KUALA LUMPUR, May 5 (NNN-Bernama) — Air travel recorded a strong demand growth for March 2023, rising 52.4 per cent in total traffic as measured in revenue passenger kilometres or RPKs compared with March 2022, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said.
“Domestic traffic for March rose 34.1 per cent compared to the year-ago period. Total March 2023 domestic traffic was at 98.9 per cent of the March 2019 level,” it said in a statement Thursday.
It said international traffic climbed 68.9 per cent versus March 2022 with all markets recording healthy growth led once again by carriers in the Asia-Pacific region.
IATA said international RPKs reached 81.6 per cent of March 2019 levels while the load factor at 81.3 per cent exceeded the March 2019 level by 10.1 percentage points.
Director general Willie Walsh said the calendar year first quarter ended on a strong note for air travel demand and domestic markets have been near their pre-pandemic levels for months.
He said two key waypoints were topped for international travel which is demand increased by 3.5 percentage points compared to the previous month’s growth to reach 81.6 per cent of pre-COVID-19 levels.
“This was led by a near-tripling of demand for Asia-Pacific carriers as China’s re-opening took hold and efficiency is improving as international load factors reached 81.3 per cent,” he said.
He added that even more importantly, ticket sales for both domestic and international travel gave every indication that strong growth would continue into the peak Northern Hemisphere summer travel season.
Meanwhile, IATA said Asia-Pacific airlines had a 283.1 per cent increase in March 2023 traffic compared with March 2022, continuing the robust momentum since the lifting of travel restrictions in the region.
It added that capacity rose 161.5 per cent and the load factor increased 26.8 percentage points to 84.5 per cent, the second highest among the regions.
— NNN-BERNAMA